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Strategy, evolution, and war : from apes to artificial intelligence

This book is about the psychological and biological bases of strategy making in war as they have evolved in humans over our history as a species. The book is also a cautionary preview of how Artificial Intelligence (AI) will revolutionize strategy more than any development in the last three thousand years of military history. Machines will make important decisions about war on both sides, and they may do so without input from humans. Kenneth Payne describes strategy as an evolved package of conscious and unconscious behaviors with roots in our primate ancestry. Human-made strategy is influenced by emotion as well as reason, with both positive and negative results. The strategic implications of AI are profound because they depart radically from the biological basis of human intelligence. Rather than being just another tool of war, AI will exponentially speed up decisionmaking, make choices humans might not make, and force faster actions and reactions. This book is a fascinating examination of the psychology of strategy-making from prehistoric times, through the ancient world, and into the modern age. It also offers a concerning preview of a future when humans cede at least some control over their destiny.Read more...

Abstract:

Humans have always made decisions about war, but now machines are close to changing things - with implications for international affairs. Payne explores the origins of human strategy, and makes the argument that Artificial Intelligence will radically transform the nature of war by changing the psychological basis of decision-making about violence.Read more...

Reviews

Editorial reviews

Publisher Synopsis

Arguing his case clearly and with few qualifications, Kenneth Payne takes forward his existing studies on the psychology of conflict in order to consider the consequences of the spread of systems employing Artifical Intelligence (AI). This is an important topic, and Payne is right to draw attention to its significance. --Military History Monthly MagazineRead more...